Champions of the Flyway!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

North Cave Wetlands, 20th July 2012

male Greater Scaup

An afternoon jolly with the old man and Lenora to North Cave Wetlands, the latter being the operative word - the sunny-intervals-and-zero-chance-of-precipitation forecast seeing the Met Office sink still deeper into the realms of farce as we drove through blankets of rain and sat out heavy showers in the hides.

But, a pleasant first visit to this small but impressive-managed YWT reserve tucked away off a minor road in the East Yorkhire countryside, about 45 minutes south-west of Flamborough (more about the reserve here).

Yellow-legged Gull

The place was buzzing with birdlife despite the conditions, with the
pools alive with much just-fledged and just-about-to-fledge activity
(especially Black-headed Gulls and Shelducks).

Which would've done just fine, but two unexpected bonuses awaited at the last hide, both conveniently on show right in front of us - a Yellow-legged Gull and a Greater Scaup. Nice.

About Me

Lucky enough to spend plenty of my time enjoying birds and wildlife as my bread and butter and drug of choice, I've an east coast Bird Observatory on my doorstep here in Filey and a second just down the road at Flamborough. I'm a field ornithologist, nature writer, speaker and guide, a role juggler here at the Obs and a musician / songwriter with my band Morning Bride.